A Secret Life with You
by romanceangel90
Summary: The Kazekage is in trouble and the Hidden Village of the Leaf is helping Gaara and Temari with this mission. The are secrets that Kirei is not telling the others and obstacles appear along the way to the end.
1. A Startled Hello

_**A Startled Hello**_

Kirei walked along the road daydreaming near the cherry blossoms.

'Wow,' she thought, 'their scent is even more beautiful than before!'

She suddenly heard a noise behind you. She stopped and quickly turned around, but there was no one around. They vanished in thin air. She walked forward where the locals walked here and there in the markets and in the parks having their own conversations, which they have whispered so no one, but them could hear. Their laughter filled the air. She had decided later to find a spot to sit under the cherry blossoms. Then, she heard a rustle in the trees above, so she stopped again, looked up wondering that if she would catch them this time, no luck, they were not there.

Tired of this wild goose chase, Kirei took out her shuriken by her side, preparing to kill the next person who came up to you in surprise. Kirei stood there a little longer waiting for movement above, nothing moved, though, they were watching her, she knew that. Annoyed, she moved on. Kirei heard strained squealing and laughter behind her and felt the wind rush past her, two little girls were playing, chasing each other. 'That looks like fun,' she thought and she watched them for a while with a faint smile.

When she was a child, no one in her family really understood her; she was always cheerful, always playing. Her parents forced you to work or train at any chance they got. Kirei hated them, she hated her early childhood because they ruined her chances at being a great friend and fighter, and they wanted her to become a fearless fighter instead.

Now that Kirei was thinking about it, from all the harsh things that had occurred, she could not help it anymore she broke into tears instantly. She then ran and fell onto the grass under the cherry blossom trees. Up in the trees, there, someone watched her quietly. Their lavender eyes peered at her from a distance and their long black hair moved with the wind, when he saw her settled down a bit, he came down with a light thump. She turned around swiftly with the shuriken still in tight in her hands, and then he grabbed her wrist gently before she threw them at him. Watching him with her tear-stained eyes for a long time, he knelt down beside her.

"Kirei, it's all right, it's only me," Neji said, "why are you crying?"

He let go of her wrist and she dropped the weapons by his side.

"Nothing, it's nothing," she said.

"Oh, did I startle you, Kirei?" he asked, looking at her for a long time. She nodded.

"Were you the one following me?"

He blushes, "yes, that was me. I wanted to talk to you about something, but I think you have something more important if you're crying like this."

He took his hand gently on your cheek and cleaned off the tears that strolled down her beautiful deep caramel eyes. Unmei Kirei sat up and smelled the cherry blossoms deeply.

"No, it's a bit childish," she said, "I don't' want you to think I am childish, Neji, even if you are one of my closest friends. I don't want you to worry."

"It's your decision; you are not forced to tell me. I will understand," he said with a whisper, "now come, Lady Tsunade wanted me to bring you to her so she can inform you of a mission you are to be given and willing to take. Best of all, you will have company."

"What mission?"

He pulled her up, "just come with me," he said.


	2. An Unexpected Stranger

_**An Unexpected Stranger**_

At the hokage's house, Lady Tsunade was studying the books to work up her knowledge. Kirei and Neji walked inside and she looks up.

"Ah, you've arrived, great," she said, "I have a mission for both of you."

They moved forward and she sat down in the seat in front of her with Neji right behind her.

"You have to stop the Akatsuki clan from a deathly plan to kill the Kazekage," she explained.

"How are we going to do that?" Kirei asked.

"I will send you with Neji and Naruto. Gaara would help too, of course, but he will be waiting for you in the village. There, he would tell you of the progress of this mission. You were trained to do these kinds of missions, were you?"

Kirei nodded.

"Great, then if you have any questions, Neji can explain more to you. Run along now, I have other matters to attend to right now. Oh, I almost forgot, make sure Naruto does not get into trouble. You both know how he is." Kirei laughed at the fact.

_A mission with Neji, how wonderful,_ she thought. Kirei looked up to him slightly, smiled and looked away quickly.

Outside, they all met up to start the long walk the Sand village, for sure, with a mission like this; there was no time to waste.

"All right!" shouted Naruto. "We will be able to kick some Akatsuki ash today, believe it!" He pumped his arm up in a fist. Kirei and Neji sigh in unison looking down.

"Hey guys, what was that for?" Naruto asked. They remained silent and walked down the road.

After a while, Neji suggests pointing to the right, "let's hit the trees, we will see more of the clan or any intruder better."

She jumps into the trees following them and race quickly to catch up. There was a sudden rustle in the trees. She stopped and listened to the sound come closer. She prepared to fight, and then Akamaru jumped out of the leaves with Kiba behind him.

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" Kiba asked.

"How did you find us out here?" Naruto shouted.

Kiba snickers and with his arms crossed he said, "I was out here enjoying the view when Akamaru caught your scent, Naruto, you really should lose the ramen."

"Why you," Naruto said angrily and started charging him, but Kirei held him back.

"Calm down, Naruto, don't attract so much attention to you," she said still holding him tightly.

Kiba just laughed and stared at Naruto struggling to get free from her grip, which tightened. After a while, Naruto settled down and surrendered to her. He was still angry with Kiba, but decided to let it go.

"Kiba, if you want to come with us to the Sand village for a mission you're more than welcome," Neji said.

Naruto started to protest, but she glared at him to stay quiet. She knew with the Akatsuki clan, you might need all the help they could find. He agreed and they rushed even more quickly to make up for the time loss.

Hours later, they reached the border of the Sand village. Ahead, about thirteen trees, they found Gaara, just thinking heavily. He had been there for a long time it seemed, waiting for them to come. They stood in front of him and he stood up.

"All right, the village needs your help. I could have done this myself, but I thought it would have been nice to bring someone in the action," he said.

Kirei and Naruto glared at him while Neji rolled his eyes. Kiba stood behind Kirei growling at Gaara.

"Why help you if you can do it yourself?" she asked.

He smirks, "because I am someone you were not expecting."

They stood there all perplexed with the sentence.

'Who is it, if it's not Gaara?" she thought.


	3. An Ambush

_**An Ambush**_

Everyone stood there perplexed and Akamaru barked at the intruder. With his arms crossed, the intruder snickered, "you would have to catch me first to find out my true identity." A second later, he vanished in thin air.

Neji turned facing them, "we need find Gaara now, it is part of our mission. The Akatsuki could not be far ahead of us."

Everyone agreed and started again, racing through the trees, but they hear a noise, which made them stop.

"Damn it," Kirei sighed.

"What?" Kiba said looking at her.

"We need to find a new route, and fast."

"Why?"

"We are being followed."

Naruto yelled, "Let's fight the dumb ash, I am dying to fight someone!"

"No Naruto," Neji said, "we need to continue."

Everyone, but Naruto jumped to the ground. "Naruto, what are you waiting for?" Kirei called, "let's go!"

He just stood there waiting, but Akamaru got into the trees and pulled at his pants, pulling him down with the group. "He tastes like chicken," Akamaru barked. Kiba stood there with his head up to the sky and laughed.

"Let me go," Naruto said. Everyone ignored him for a while, but eventually Akamaru let him go.

"We need to hurry," Neji said.

They raced down the road passing people who glared at them. They stopped at a diner and walked in. they discovered that it was empty after looking around at the dust collection on the table.

"We need to get out of here," Kiba whispered, "something does not feel right." Everyone agreed and started for the door when there was a sudden slam of the door. They turned around startled, feeling that they were not alone. They were looking around the room for an exit, but everything has had been either barred with wood panels or locked.

'What are we going to do now?' Kirei thought.

This time she said it aloud, hoping that there was no reply.

"Nothing, there's nothing you can do," said a voice coming from a dark corner.

Her eyes grew big and she slid down onto the dusty floor with her arms hugging her legs and her head caressing under her hands. Her team glanced at her for a second then put their attention back to the corner.

One of the Akatsuki members came forth, which looked like Zetsu. He was one of most bloodthirsty members there for he was a human plant eater. He came towards Kirei slowly, but stopped.

"My, my, my, we have three fighters and one worrier," he said, he looked at Akamaru, "and one barking machine." Akamaru growled at him.

"Let me at him!" Naruto yelled.

Neji and Kiba had to hold him back. "No, Naruto, we don't have the time," Neji said.

Zetsu grinned and even more members came forward from the darkness. Pein ordered something in a whisper and Tobi came towards Kirei slowly. She lifts her up to him and watches him carefully. After a minute passed, she put her chin under her hand still watching him. Akamaru growled at him as a warning.

'We have to do something,' Neji thought,' but what?'

"We are in trouble," Kiba said silently, "big trouble."

'Dang it, if only I just—" Naruto's thoughts trailed off.


	4. Help in Escape

_**Help in Escape**_

Tobi came even closer to Kirei and grinned, but she did not move.

"Kirei get up, come on!" Kiba and Naruto thought.

Neji had only moved an inch and Tobi snarled at him, which made him jump back into his place. He had a plan, but he was not willing to share it with anyone in fear that the Akatsuki would counteract it. Kirei lifted her head again.

"Why am I always the damsel in distress?" she thought.

"If you touch me, you phag, I am going to kill you!" she yelled at him.

"Oh, I'm so scared," Tobi said sarcastically. He only laughed at the thought of it.

She quickly glanced at her teammates for any responses to the approaching person and then turned her attention back to Tobi, who was even closer than before.

"Damn it, got to have a plan ready, Kirei, he is coming closer, and you're the only one besides the other Akatsuki members who is aware of his powers," she thought, biting her lip.

She began to pull herself up when there was a loud crash not far away.

"What was that?" demanded Pein.

Zetsu rushed off to the site of the sound. At that particular moment, the crash was the perfect distraction. Tobi turned his back from Kirei and she escaped, plopping behind Neji and grabbing his tunic as gently as she could, to reassure him she was safe. Then, Tobi quickly turned around to discover she was gone from his sight.

"Hey!" he yelled, "where the hell is that damn girl?"

With no reply to his question, he became furious. Minutes passed and Zetsu did not come back. Pein then sent Sasori and Deidara to find him, but he was nowhere to be found.

"No worries, then, he might have had chased who or whatever it was anyways," Pein said, "get back to those wretched kids, now!"

There was a big battle arising when Temari came out of hiding, brushing her fans around sweeping the Akatsuki off their feet and out of the room.

"That was a close one," she snickered, "I'm just glad I managed to make it in time before they did any more damage to you. In this village, you have to watch out what you're getting yourselves into."

"Thanks Temari," Neji said.

"Oh, you don't have to thank me, I was looking for you anyways," she said with a big smile.

Confused, Naruto asked, "how so? Or is this another trick?"

"Good question, but if you don't believe me, we will never be able to find Gaara in time to save the Kazekage."

"That's true," Kiba said, rubbing his chin.

They limped their way out of the pub shop and looked for a place to rest their injuries. Their injuries were not that serious, so they did not need immediate attention. They soon find a small motel where they could catch their forty winks. They purchased two rooms to separate the two genders.

Kirei lay in her bed with her eyes wide open.

"What would have happened if Temari did not come on time?" she asked herself.

She got up and walked out of the room and into the stillness of the night where she saw Neji high above her on the roof.


	5. Silent Romance

_**Silent Romance**_

Kirei jumps onto the roof as quietly as she could and sat in front of Neji.

"You can't sleep?" he asked not looking at her.

She shook her head.

"You?" she asked after shaking her head.

He shook his head. He sat there silently for a long time gazing at the moon, and she watched the moon dance playfully with the stars and the water, which made the lights reflect with a shimmering effect. Breaking the silence, she asked him, "What are you thinking about, Neji-kun?"

He remained silent as he was and she asked him again, only touching his forearm to make sure he was listening.

"Oh, nothing, I was just wondering how such stars can blink ever so brightly on such a beautiful night like this, disregarding what happened earlier," he explained.

She leaned forward to make out what he was saying because he talked in such hushed tone.

"Well, considering that we were ambushed, whether we like it or not, I don't know how I can live without you," he said looking down into his hands. She blushed.

"Neji—" was all she said when Neji interrupted her.

"Kirei, if Temari did not come at the right moment, I might have sacrificed myself for you."

She sat there looking at him clearly in shock. A tear sprang out of the corner of her eyes as she jumped on him giving him a huge hug.

"Neji!" she sobbed.

Her head was over his shoulder, cushioned by his long black hair as tears poured violently out of her eyes. He held her tightly, passing his fingers through her hair trying to calm her down. No one, not even Kirei, realized that he loved her more than a friend or a sister, but tonight things started to change ever so quickly.

He pushed her off his now tear-stained shoulder so gently and looked at her.

"Kirei, I have to confess something to you," he said, "I can't stop thinking about you. We've been friends for a very long time, but…" he paused and looked into her eyes.

"Neji, what's wrong?" she asked, taking his hand unexpectedly.

He blushed violently, but focused on the next thing to say and his blushing resided slowly.

"I…love…you," he said finally. She looked at him and blushed with surprise and turned away from his stare.

"Kirei, I mean more than anything in the world!"

She turned back to him with a gentle smile growing on her brightly lit face. She pulled away her hand from his clasped hand and told him the truth.

With a deep breath she said, "Neji, I too, love you, more than anything in the world."

He leaned closer to Kirei and looked at her carefully. With one hand as support to keep him from falling, he used his other hand to brush her warm, silky cheek. He lifted her chin up to him and pecked her soft, small lips and pulled away to see the stars reflect their shining lights in her caramel eyes. She gave him a small smile as he played with her black curly hair around his index fingers, which went back into place. She caressed his cheek and watched him longingly and slid her hands around his neck as he held her tightly, and then he placed her head on his chest as he began to lie down and watch the stars. He watched her as she lay there, hearing his heartbeats, counting them. She picked up her head and kissed his lips, which he responded back into a deeper and passionate longing. Pulling away, she placed her head back on his chest; her arms folded under her chin, and dozed off with a smile on her face. He brushed his fingers through her hair and kissed her head as he watched the stars beginning to disappearing.

"It's getting late, Kirei," he whispered.

Before the sun rose, he picked her up in his arms and hopped down from the roof going into her room silently. Placing her in her bed, he made it seem as if she was never gone, and then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before he closed the door and slipped away into his room.

Because of this night, only Neji and Kirei became secret lovers and turned it into a secret romance.


	6. Where?

_**Where?**_

The smell of ramen woke Kirei up from a dream.

"Was this really a dream, I mean, Neji actually confessing that he loved me, and…and holding me close?" she asked herself, confused shaking her head.

She slipped out of bed and changed clothes. She wore an off white handkerchief tied around her neck, a long sleeved lilac jacket quite fluffed up on her shoulders, an off white corset wrap above her waist, which flowed down her body, laced with a black ribbon on one of her black hair strands.

As she stepped into the food-scented room, she remembered something from before.

"Mother, can I have something to eat, please?" she asked.

"Why breakfast, when you could be outside training for the loss you had from last night?" her mother screamed, not facing her.

"But mother," she whined, "I'm hungry!"

"It doesn't matter!"

She ran outside, with tears in her eyes, to the farthest part of Konaha's forest.

"Why does my family hate me so?" she asked herself when she settled under a cherry blossom tree with her arms folded on her knees and her head muffled under them.

As the petals off the tree and floated on her head, someone came towards slowly.

"Why do you cry?" says the small voice.

She looked up to see the most intriguing eyes she's seen in a long time, lavender eyes peered at her gently. The small boy knelt, eye level, beside her.

"Everyone hates me!" she cried, tears strolling down her face.

"I'll be your friend," he said. He gets up, smiles and offers his hand to her, helping her up.

For hours, they trained until she perfected her chakra control.

Back to reality, Kirei was sitting silently at the table eating with Temari and Kiba. Neji and Naruto were on an account with several people figuring out information about the Akatsuki and anything about Gaara.

"So, Kiba how was your night?" she asked, trying to strike a conversation with them.

"Hm, oh, it was great!" he laughed, "what about you? Dream about me?" He leaned back into the chair.

"Nope, now get too cocky Kiba," she snarled.

She sipped the remaining water from the ramen and walked outside.

She sat down on a bench nearby closing her eyes.

"Kirei-chan!" someone called. Naruto, along with Neji, ran up to her. Naruto waved as he approached her.

"Kirei, I've tried to wake you earlier, but you didn't even budge!" he said.

She waved in response to his wave and laughed because of how the night turned out to be. At least they didn't run into danger while they were investigating the whole issue.

"Come inside, we have something to very important to talk about," Neji said.

She nodded and followed them.

"We found some information about Gaara, but none of the Akatsuki, unfortunately," Neji announced.

"Well, did you find him or not?" Temari asked desperately.

"All we know is that he's trapped somewhere in the sand dunes."

"Is there more?"

Neji shook his head. Temari stood up quickly, making the chair fall. She grabbed him by the collar roughly.

"You better know where he is! Do I have to remind you what we have in stake here?" she yelled.

Kirei opened her mouth to speak, but Naruto yelled, "Put him down! He already told you what we know! That's the truth, believe it!"

Temari turned her head and glared at him. He twitched with fear and jumped behind Kirei like a coward.

"Temari," Kirei started, "put him down please! We need to find Gaara, now, but we would never do that without the help of everyone, including Neji."


	7. A Finding Surprise

_**A Finding Surprise**_

"Fine," Temari said, dropping Neji on the ground and stomped away into her room.

Kirei then walked up to Neji and helped him up with a smile on her face.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He dusted off his clothes, "yeah, I'm all right, don't worry about me. Nice way to piss her off, huh?" he laughed and scratched his neck hesitantly.

Turning away from him, Kirei walked towards Temari's room, and then paused in front of the door. She looked back and saw Kiba, Naruto, and Neji sitting down having their eyes wandering around the room. She placed her hand on the door and slowly let the door creak open.

Slipping in through the door, she saw Temari picking at her clothing for lint, sitting on her bed.

"Temari, what the hell was that about?" she asked, crossing her arms standing a few feet from the door.

"That?" Temari said, pointing at the door indicating the situation from outside. "We need to hurry, because if we don't, why do I have to explain this to you?"

Kirei just stood there with her arms still crossed and glared at her. Temari returned that glare. Then there was soft knock on the door, which opened with Kiba's head poking out through the door frame.

"Hey, girls we're leaving in a few minutes, all right?" he said with a sly smile on face.

Kirei turned her head, facing him, and rolled her eyes, which made him close the door. With her arms still crossed, she walked over to her bed and sat there.

"Listen, Temari, I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just that things are tensing up every second and…uh…I don't know what to do anymore," she said with her head bent down, ashamed.

"No, Kirei, I apologize," she said shifting her weight closer to her; "I just need to find Gaara before he does something stupid."

Both nodded in agreement and rushed around the room, grabbed their items, and stuffed it in their bags as neatly as possible. Another knock was heard on the door while Temari and Kirei had their backs turned, picking up the bags and tossing them on their backs. Neji comes in and said, "We need to leave, now."

The girls nodded.

Temari walked up to him shyly, quite ashamed of what she did. "No harsh feeling back there. I feel awful now," she said, "I'm just so over-protective when it comes down to Gaara."

Neji nods and steps out.

On the road, they find the sand dunes that were described as Gaara's "burial" spot. Akamaru barked excitedly as they came closer to the area. As they came to the dunes, everyone helped find the exact location for Gaara. Neji used his Byakugan to sense any form of chakra. Kiba and Akamaru sniffed out any scent of Gaara or any aura around. Temari swept all of the sand around with her fan, and Kirei froze certain areas and unfroze them to bring out anything that was below, above ground with her water jutsus.

Suddenly, Neji stops and turns to face everyone.

"Hey, it looks like we have something in this direction," he said, pointing east of him.

Kirei came towards him and said, "So, what you propose that we should do?"

"Huh, the team?" he said clueless.

She pointed to the group that were scattered around, still searching.

"Oh, that team," he said, scratching his back and blushing, embarrassed. "I almost forgot we had others with us." He laughed at that fact.

"That's not funny!" Kirei said, bonking him on the head.

"Ouch, that hurt." He began to massage his head to relieve his upcoming pain.

"Guys, come here!" Kirei yelled.

They came over with blank faces and listened to the orders that Neji had.

Everyone pulled every ounce of strength they had in the eastern part of the dunes when suddenly, bits of a body began to appear.

Temari, with the fan, quickly brushes the sand that covered the body and discovered that it was a familiar face.

"Gaara!" she yelled.


	8. A Story to Tell

**_A Story to Tell_**

In tears in her eyes, Temari desperately dragged Gaara out from the sand. He looked as if he was dead. Temari cursed under her breath, letting the tears escape her, dropping onto Gaara's pale skin. She laid his head on her lap and she stroke his hair, "Gaara, please wake up," she said. She wiped off any collection of sand that he had on his face.

All of a sudden, Gaara's eyes slowly opened and he groaned.

"How long have I been here?" he whispered.

Out of relief, Temari hugged him, and then seconds later, she slapped out of fury.

"God dang it, you are so stupid sometimes, you know that?" she screamed, dropping him on the sand like a rag doll. Everyone looked at her perplexed. "What's going on?" they thought.

"Temari, do you have any water?" Gaara asked weakly, ignoring her fury.

Temari thrust the water to him and he thanked her. Everyone was quiet for some time. Naruto tested the silence and abruptly coughed, which caused everyone to look at him angrily.

Finally, Gaara speaks up and says, "I have a story to tell."

Kirei and Neji looked up at each other and had a soft blush on their cheeks, but looked away quickly before anyone noticed, and began to listen.

Gaara lay there quietly to think about how he could put it.

"Tell us already!" Naruto screamed impatiently.

Gaara turned to face him and said, "Don't rush me."

Then he began to tell the story of the whole incident.

"I was sitting on one of the tree branches waiting for you to come, but then I was abruptly ambushed by a few guys. They had incredible speed so they pinned me down without letting me have a chance to see their faces. I don't remember how they got me on my belly on the road, but they did," he said.

He took a sip of the water and continued, "I heard one of the men mumble something about trying to capture someone, and then I was here in the sand here until you've arrived."

There was an even longer silence. "The Akatsuki were all behind this, setting up the whole thing," Kirei thought. Everyone looked up and gazed at her confused.

"Why are you upset, Kirei?" Kiba asked.

"Hmm?" she replied shyly.

"You look like if you have something on your mind."

"Yeah, I think I know where the Akatsuki might be hiding now."

"Where?"

"What was the whole reason of this mission?"

"To protect the Kazekage," said Neji.


End file.
